


A Merry Little Christmas

by badrelign



Category: Dead Poets Society (1989)
Genre: Fluff, Gen, M/M, Neil Perry (Dead Poets Society) Lives
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-01
Updated: 2020-12-01
Packaged: 2021-03-10 02:54:48
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,001
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27827101
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/badrelign/pseuds/badrelign
Summary: a christmas eve with the dead poets
Relationships: Todd Anderson/Neil Perry
Comments: 3
Kudos: 44





	A Merry Little Christmas

The white sheet on the floor of the earth was thick, as it was every December in Vermont. Welton academy was quiet, aside from hefty snores and whispers of those who were chasing sleep. Books and eyes were shut. The younger students of the school tossed and turned anxiously waiting for the next morning and the joy that it would bring. And with all this calm, fresh footprints laid throughout the forest that surrounded a cave, one that currently held seven teenage boys. 

“Alright!” exclaimed Charlie as he clapped his hands together loudly, causing Todd to jump slightly behind him. Light, airy smiles found home on everyone’s face as the meeting commenced. “Neil, what will you be reading for us on this sweet christmas evening?”

“Oh, just a little Shakespeare, if you doth not mind,” Neil answered with a ghastly english accent earning a chuckle from many of the boys. He pushed himself off of the rock Todd and him were sharing, knee brushing the boy’s knee as he did so. Standing in the middle of the group he began to read, “How like a winter hath my absence been, From thee, the pleasure of the fleeting year! What freezings have I felt, what dark days seen! What old December’s bareness every where! And yet this time removed was summer’s time, The teeming autumn, big with rich increase.”

“Oh, magnificent!” Pitts shouted dramatically with a smoking pipe hanging from his lips. They all applauded Neil, to which he gave a clumsy stage bow before placing himself back besides Todd. He gave the boy a dopey smile and got a sweet chuckle in return, which flowed into his ears and straight to his heart which gave a hefty thud at the sound of Todd’s laugh. 

“Doth thee wanteth to wend next?” Neil asked the boy with a light nudge to the shoulder, to which his smile dropped heavily and his eyes moved to the dirty ground. Neil noticed and leaned in slightly closer to where only Todd could hear him, “You don’t have to if you’d rather not, I just haven’t gotten the chance to hear you read in awhile.”

“Um..Sure, yeah. I’ll go, I guess,” Todd stammered, before moving to the middle as Neil had before. The banter of the boy’s soothed down as they all prepared to intently listen to Todd’s words. Original piece or not, Todd captivated the room when he read. Though his voice was shy and achy, it was also passionate, “Freezing is the lake, which only days ago flowed. Reciting words on paper, shivering in the raw bitter cold, ardency shouts when I could not bare to speak. For you’re the one, who planted the seed.”

His words settled in the bones of a certain poet, and the applauds passed through both of their ears and out the other. Todd brought his eyes to Neil’s, which were waiting patiently for his longing lover. The brunet’s smile widened as he shook his head softly, motioning for Todd to sit back down with a small pat to the space beside him. 

“Was that one of yours?” He whispered, moving an arm slightly behind Todd to rest it on his back. The boy only nodded and shuddered at the soft touch, “It was amazing, Todd.”

The two’s love for one another melded with the love that was being shared within the group of poets in the cave that night. Though not silent, it was peaceful. They shared laughs, cigarettes, and literature, which was the best christmas gift any of them could ask for. Even Cameron, the pitiful soul, had a bright and loving smile on his pale freckled face. 

Everything was easy when they were together, well in a sense. There was no rush of schoolwork even though it still held a bunker down in the back of their brains. No latin except for the humorous incorrect phrases shouted throughout the group of boys. 

It was composed, tranquill almost. 

Todd’s stomach hurt from the ungodly amount of laughter that was thrown back and forth and continued to echo throughout the cave. In that moment, he was sure that they were untouchable. If Mr. Nolan trudged through the woods and into the cave he was sure that the laughter wouldn’t falter, even with the threat of expulsion. He had never felt such a wave of gratitude for the people closest to him. Not in his lifetime at least. 

The walk through the snow and back to Welton was filled with quiet giggles and melodic hums. Aged and melted footprints were replaced with new ones heading in the opposite direction. The moonlight sheded a pair’s connected hands from anyones wondering eyes, and joy fluttered in everyone’s ribcage.

Light footsteps padded through halls, and small shrieks of closing doors sounded as the poets found their resting place. Neil shook snowflakes out of his hair as Todd closed the door behind them, kicking his boots off silently. The glorious boy to his front had already shed himself of his heavy raincoat and was pulling on a Welton soccer hoodie. Todd shoved his scarf off and moved to sit on his bed, quite to tired to remove anymore layers. Neil watched him carefully.

“Sleepy?” He asked with a growing smirk. Todd felt the bed sink to his left as Neil sat down closely beside him, backs resting against the thin wall. 

“Mhmm,” Is all Todd could get out before a yawn interrupted his train of thought. Neil laughed until Todd moved his head to the boy’s shoulder, causing the noise to subdue and resonate as a quiet sigh. Neil turned his head slightly to place his lips firmly to Todd’s cold forehead, to which he gave a joyful hum. 

“Merry Christmas, Todd,” faded into his ears as he let himself fall asleep. 

The next morning the two would wakeup with cramps from their uncomfortable position the night before, but their smiles never faltered. Neil liked Christmas at Welton a lot more that day.

**Author's Note:**

> thank you for reading! take care <3


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